Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending a theatrical in honor of Miss Jane Austen’s 242nd year of birth. In loft on Chicago’s Broadway Street, a troupe of women paid their respects to Miss Austen—exemplary authoress of the Regency era—by fabricating a satirical, gently mocking tale of social mores and romance. . . all […]
Cindy: We usually refrain from teasing our readers with a book that is half a year from publication, but Some Writer! The Story of E. B. White (Oct. 2016) is worth raving about early and often. Melissa Sweet, who recently illustrated the award-winning The Right Word, is the perfect person to tell the story of […]
It’s safe to say that there is no living author who has delighted as many generations of children as Beverly Cleary. I was one of the early fans. As someone who has read thousands of books in my career as a librarian, reviewer, and reader, I’ll admit that many of them have disappeared from my memory. […]
Brenna Yovanoff is an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in name that sounds like an 1840s Russian seafaring vessel that got frozen in arctic waters only to be discovered a century later with its crew, those who hadn’t been cannibalized by their former friends, mummified by the salt air, trapped forever in wracked postures of eternal […]
Cindy and Lynn: We’ve been on the road for the past two weeks, giving our “Cindy & Lynn Best Books 2015” presentation, so we haven’t had much time to write blog posts. Last week, we had a very inspiring day at the Kalamazoo Public Library’s Youth Lit Seminar. The keynote speakers were authors Jackie Woodson […]
Fans of international crime fiction are mourning the death of Henning Mankell, who passed away on Monday at the age of 67. He is considered one of the dominant figures of the “Nordic noir” subgenre, which examines darker social themes and provides something of an antithesis to the notion that Scandinavian countries are extremely safe. The Nordic crime […]
Cindy and Lynn: We are verklempt. Sir Terry Pratchett is no longer with us and we don’t want to let go. Terry once said, “There are times in life when people must know when not to let go.” Some people are taking him at his word and there is a petition circulating that asks Death […]
I had a great time moderating two panels, “Ask the Publishers” and “Writing for the Younger Crowd,” last weekend at the Chicago Writers Conference. Preparing for the latter, I asked authors Allan Woodrow and Erica O’Rourke which questions they hate answering. Between them, they offered three—in a moment of perversity, I considered then asking them THOSE […]